Chapter 2 – Past Lives
Captain Kirk woke with a start, quickly sitting up threw the bed sheets off. Something was on the tip of his consciousness yet he couldn't place it. Walking towards the sonic shower barely awake; shedding unwanted clothes at the door. He always found showers invigorating, and deciding to have a water shower, once in a long time. Then there was that thought again, it was like trying to grasp thin air. Many officers in Starfleet eschewed technological gimmicks when it came to shaving, always having preferred to wet shave. The steamed up mirror made it impossible to see anything, yet still feeling more tired than he remembered - Kirk began to shave by feel. Once finished he rinsed his face with water and looked in the mirror. The razor dropped from slack fingers into the water, and he staggered on uncertain feet, grabbing onto the side to keep upright. He had died, recalling a name Picard, Soren. James T. Kirk rubbed his face, looking at the lines of age that were no longer there. His features were those possessed during the original five year mission. "Computer what is the Star date"
"Star date unknown" it replied unhelpfully. Putting on his uniform strode to the communicator on the wall.
Captain Jonathon Archer sat in his quarters, and was about to give Porthos a saucer of milk. He saw a reflection of himself in a glass frame of a painting – dropping the saucer, contents splashing all over the floor, accompanied by a barking in the background. Ambassador Spock stood in his quarters and pulled the hood around his face, noticing that all the tell-tale age lines had vanished, replaced once more by his youthful self. Stepping to another mirror, admired the results. "Fascinating"
Captain Sulu eyes flicked open abruptly, realising he was sitting in his command chair. Hope no one saw me napping? A quick survey around the bridge, it certainly seemed to be the Excelsior, spotting Ensign Tuvok spewed from the turbo lift, alarm evident in the young Vulcan's eyes. "Are you okay Ensign?" His words were not heard, the junior office obviously in his own world. "Ensign!" This time the shout was more forceful. Tuvok looked up startled. "Ensgin Tuvok! Are you okay?" he repeated more gently this time.
"I do not believe so" was the answer, although Sulu could not see the calmness and serenity present in most Vulcan's. As calmly as possible, glancing once at the uniform and rank insignia he wore. "My rank is Lieutenant Commander" he said more firmly. "What year is this?"
"2293" answered Sulu automatically. "Why?"
"That is not correct", he said standing before the Captain. "In fact I was on Voyager with Captain Janeway having returned three months ago from the Delta and Gamma Quadrant". Sulu laughed. "You hit your head Ensign" he said smiling, noticing shocked looks on the face of others; horrified, and then stood up. He saw his image reflected on the viewscreen and it stopped him cold. What the?
Communication chatter was crazy, not that Riker knew any of this as he turned over in bed, seeing that Deanna was already showered, and standing semi-naked in their shared quarters. "You're going to be late for your shift" his wife scolded. Riker rubbed his eyes and jumped out of bed like Superman, hovering briefly in the air before landing flat on his face. "Oomph!" he moaned. Deanna laughed at the youthful display of acrobatics. Gathering his composure, or what was left of it, ran to the shower.
Janeway was getting ready for her shift, just like any other day, and grabbing her jacket slung an arm through the sleeve, stopping when she saw the four pips? Another examination of the uniform and her quarters revealed an obvious problem. She was aboard Voyager. Putting on her old Captain's uniform made her way to the bridge. What the hell? She remembered being assimilated by the Borg, not just assimilated, as she mentally corrected herself; but been transformed into the Borg Queen. She staggered, and collapsed onto the bed, immensely thankful for its presence. I died she remembered, as a Borg. Disgust made her dry heave.
Greeting her on the bridge were the shocked faces of crew, Chakotay who appeared all equally as alarmed. "What are you doing here?" he inquired jovially. "Thought you got promoted?"
"So did I?" she remarked ruefully. "Anyone seen Tuvok?"
"Computer, please locate Lieutenant Commander Tuvok"
"Lieutenant Commander Tuvok is not on board this vessel" answered the female voice of the computer.
"You should see this, we have all kinds of chatter, hell of a lot of interference too" stated Chakotay worriedly. Captain Picard looked behind at Lieutenant Commander Worf on the Enterprise E. "Sir, this is impossible!" growled Worf. "Is there a problem?" asked Picard politely, feeling the waves of frustration given off by his Security Officer. "Sir we are receiving hails from at least two ships claiming to be the Enterprise".Picard looked up abruptly, alarm immediately overwriting the calm expression shown moments ago. "Are you sure?"
Fingers were moving rapidly over the controls, "Affirmative sir, we have registries NX-01, NCC-1701 A, B & C"
"That is quite correct sir". Both Worf and Picard turned abruptly to look at Data sitting at a console.
"What is going on?" uttered Jean-Luc clearly annoyed, "Data how can you be alive? We saw you die"
"That is quite correct sir, I remember the ship exploding but now I am here" he remarked matter-of-factly. "While you were busy in dialogue with Lieutenant Commander Worf I have also taken the liberty to chart our position"
The Captain considered that for a moment, "So where are we?"
"According to the sensors we are not in our universe, furthermore" he began, waiting for the Captain to walk over, "it would seem that we are currently in the unknown regions of the Alpha Quadrant some ten thousand light years from Earth". Picard looked at the display and sighed. Not only were there several manned versions of the Enterprise, there were also several floating adrift with no life signs aboard.
Kirk made his way to bridge on the Enterprise A. "What have you got for me?" he asked abruptly, trying to get a measure of things. He saw Bones and Spock on the bridge, all looking a lot younger than when he had last seen them. The Scottish brogue of the Captain Scott shouted a greeting. "Captain"
"Scotty" he replied cheerfully seeing an incredibly young crew staring back at him.
"Aye sir" he replied. "Got a problem though, we're having trouble maintaining a stable warp field".
The Vulcan turned. "Captain we are detecting several versions of Enterprise each relating to the time period in which they served", but never managed to complete his sentence.
"Is there an Enterprise D" he asked.
"Affirmative sir, unmanned"
The Captain cursed. "Receiving hail from Enterprise E" Uhura said. "A Captain Picard"
"Good" said Kirk. "Maybe someone I know can get me some answers"
"Captain when did you meet Captain Picard?" James Kirk had managed to use logic to out think computers several times during the original five year mission, caught the unspoken subtext of his friends comment. "Who else has met Jean-Luc?" he inquired dropping formality looking at Spock and Bones.
"On their inaugural journey on the Enterprise D"
"Aye" piped up Scotty from Engineering. "Save me from a Dyson Sphere"
"I have" replied Spock. Looking somewhat shell shocked and raising a hand, began to shake it indicating silence.
"Later gentlemen" he remarked irritably. Thoroughly irked, he looked at the view screen. "Jean-Luc you're looking well" he said forcing a smile.
"Captain Kirk" answered Picard. "The last time I saw you", but the sentence was never finished as the transmission kept breaking up. After a second it resumed.
"I was dead" answered Kirk flatly. "Yes I know. That's old news", he smiled sweetly looking down in dismay at his white uniform. "Well any idea what's going on?" he asked pleasantly, "'Cos quite frankly we're stumped"
"Not at the moment although we are getting alarming reports, you could always beam across?" suggested Jean-Luc.
Kathryn Janeway was pacing on the bridge of Voyager, and shook her head. "What a mess" she remarked. "Find out where Tuvok is" she ordered absently, sitting down and then instantly standing. She began to rub her head, feeling the press of a headache. "Get me the Enterprise E." It seemed the sensible order with the mess out there. The last thing she wanted was to hail unmanned vessels. "On screen"
"Captain", was the warmest pleasantry she could manage. "It would appear that I have dropped rank", was her sarcastic comment. Hoping mirth between Captains might help relieve the pressure she felt. "How are things on your ship?"
"So it would seem Admiral, probably about as well as can be expected considering….." he began letting the sentence trail off, and tugging his uniform straight again such a bad habit. "Do you have any idea what's happened?"
"Not at the minute Jean-Luc, it's a real mess out there"
"Captain", stopping himself not sure which rank she held at minute in light of the present situation, "Admiral. We've found a few startling things ourselves, various dead crewmen have spontaneously appeared alive and well. Data for one"
"What?!" she exclaimed by the statement. "How is that possible?"
"Well I for one can only think of one explanation"
"Q" Kathy answered, which caused Picard to nod in agreement.
"There are also several unmanned but wholly intact vessels and I would suggest someone take charge of the fleet and getting personnel across"
"That's good idea, maybe I should change?" she suggested smiling, "Someone has to take charge here"
"Probably a good idea" agreed Jean-Luc.
"Would you like a promotion?" she joked. "Help me out?"
Picard tugged his uniform again, and looked to his left. "Someone once told me to never accept to promotion and that while I remain here I can make a difference. And I for once agree"
"Who told you that? I'm hurt Jean-Luc" Janeway retorted sarcastically, "I really am,"
Kirk smiling broadly and stepped into view. "That would be me"
"Captain Kirk" exclaimed Janeway using the rank by which he held prior to an untimely death, quickly recognising the fact that he was wearing the old uniform of Admiral, prior to demotion. Captain Riker was on the Bridge of the Titan, and the alarms were going non-stop. "What have you got?" he asked.
"It's a bit crazy out there"
"Get me Captain Picard" he groused. He began rubbing his head, hoping a headache wasn't coming.
"Sir we've got a transmission from Admiral Janeway broadcasting to the whole fleet using radio waves"
"Radio waves?" asked Will incredulously. "You're joking"
"Actually I'm not, there's a problem with subspace". Turning to the view screen listened to the report.
Janeway stood there ready to give her broadcast to the fleet. It was going to be tough, no doubt about that. "Some of may feel a slight dissociation, at seeing personnel and ships that you have never seen before," she began. "Considering what has happened this is to be expected and although we do not know," Janeway paused a second to let the last statement sink in, "we do not know" she re-iterated "what caused this we are working on it. Many of us are clearly from different time zones and it is imperative we all work together".
Walking forward nearer to the view screen, "Our scans indicate several things, one being is that we are in the Milky Way; we are unable to maintain a stable warp field." She paused hoping everyone was still with her despite being forced to conduct communication through radio waves. "Other secondary scans show this may well not be our universe". Janeway had had no time to prepare the speech and it was all ad-hoc, but what concerned her most was pulling together the crews of multiple time periods without any of them taking matters into their own hands. With several 24th Century ships and crews that had set about controlling the unmanned ships, as yet transporters were still inoperative, they were stuck to using shuttles. The later vessels would be easier as less crew were required, but older ones like the Constitution class Enterprise floating free out there and other just relics that might prove a problem.
Sighing inwardly, wondering what Picard would have said, there was one man who knew how to throw a speech together. "So without any way to currently get home what I propose is this, all Captains make their way to Deep Space Nine and we can discuss matters more fully. A warning is do not repeat, repeat do not attempt to use the transporters, shuttlecraft only." She gestured to Chakotay who closed the communication channel.
"I've sent the co-ordinates" he said. "Perhaps as Head of Starfleet" he mused smiling, "You should make DS9 a stable base for now, until we can figure things out". In truth Janeway had been thinking a similar thing herself, having imposed her will on the Fleet, couldn't very well fly off into danger. "Perhaps you're right"
"Admiral we've found Tuvok, he's listed as being on the Excelsior under the command of Captain Sulu". It was turning out to be one of those days, in fact probably the worst ever; instead of being trapped halfway across the galaxy they were in another universe and nothing worked. Rubbing her head was not easing her headache - not at all. Captain Picard was sitting in his Ready Room with James T. Kirk. "You do know while in that uniform that you're Admiral Kirk", concerned there was something wrong with what he might consider to be a friend, although their acquaintance was brief. Kirk sat down sipping his cup of coffee. "Yes I know" he replied. "It's all coming back to me now, Veridian 3, Soren, V'Ger the whole lot". Admiral Kirk sat down.
"Are you okay?" James Kirk didn't really know how to answer that, now that his memory was returning to normal, but he was alive the main thing was that while he remained in his chair; he could make a difference just like always. "I am Jean-Luc". Sitting back, relaxing now that his senior officers had finally told of their forays into the 24th Century.
After an hour Kirk returned to his Enterprise using a shuttlecraft. The lack of stable warp field was having a knock on effect across the whole fleet. In their universe they were able to interact and use subspace quite readily, but here there was something preventing it, as though there was a barrier, or impediment between the dimensions that made its use more difficult, thus effectively stranding all the ships to using Impulse, no transporters, minimal sensors, and no subspace communications. As some subspace communication was possible, it was almost like being in the dark ages.
Benjamin Sisko was livid, being with the Prophets one minute and here the next. What was going on? Putting those concerns aside Admiral Janeway had called a meeting aboard the station, where dozens if not hundreds, of Captains, and not all from the 24th Century either, would be converging to discuss the situation. It was going to be chaos personified. His heart skipped a beat, realising that Admiral Kirk would be here. 'Bout time someone gave Janeway a run for her money. There was Worf, and according to the logs he was currently aboard the Enterprise with Picard. Some ways he was glad the Defiant was still docked at the Station so he could run away to sanity somewhere else if need be. At least they were in orbit around a Class M planet.
She had several quandaries on her hands. Archer had been head of the United Federation of Planets once before his death, Kirk was an Admiral, and while they conducted other searches looking for others that had been similarly highly ranked. Was she to dismiss them or allow them to continue? There were several problems if she dismissed earlier ranking systems, but the effect was it cheapened their contribution to the Starfleet and that it could cause an immediate rift from the get go; but the opposing view was that the Federation had changed so much from their times were they qualified to hold the rank still? Unfortunately this decision weighed heavily, so she 'took the bull by the horns' and arranged a meeting.
Before they all went in, she had requested a meeting separately with Jonathan Archer, Admiral Kirk, Captain's Picard and Riker.
"We're going to have a problem on our hands shortly" she announced. "We still haven't found a way to maintain a stable warp field so we have no FTL travel as yet. Thanks to crews from both the Titan and the Enterprise E; we have now managed to maintain either skeleton crews or place unmanned ships under tractor beam; but we cannot do so forever"
"I agree" said Riker. "Do you have anything in mind?"
"Actually I do. We have a few current ships that are unmanned and we need to resolve that issue and use the older more obsolete ships as spare parts"
"You're talking about my ship" said Kirk.
"Not just yours but others too, according to Captain Sisko we have literally thousands of personnel without ships on this station, at least two fifths from 24th Century. He's taken a head count and we'll be sorting out assignments shortly"
"That's a lot of personnel" remarked Riker.
"It is" she stated. "Myself and Captain Picard have been trying to work things out. Admiral Kirk as your senior officers are familiar with the 24th Century it makes sense to use that knowledge by re-assigning you to the USS Sovereign". The act of giving such a menace up-to-date technology grated on whatever nerves and sanity the Admiral possessed, but it was the only way – for the moment, she chided herself. Kirk didn't have to think about the choices, "I'll take it"
"Good" she said pleased. "I thought you would". Turning to Will she said, "I need to reassign your crew too, to the USS Prometheus." Will smiled always wanting to take command of one and now he had his chance. "Absolutely" he beamed knowing it was unmanned at the minute. Janeway needed more experienced crew in the newer vessels. Made sense really, it wasn't going to be easy holding everyone together. Archer, who had been remained silent, wondered what he was doing here. "Captain Archer I'm sure may well remember being Head of Starfleet and I propose you be so again". He recalled those years and sometimes not altogether fondly. "That was a long time ago"
"But I cannot just dismiss the rank of any officer superior just because they do not originate in the 24th Century"
"I see where you're going" he said succinctly, "it might fracture the fleet" he said, "such as it is" Archer added.
"The main issue is that each time period had a different set of operating guidelines and if we cannot hold them together cohesively" she stated, her hands were near to one another as though holding a ball. "So what do you propose?" inquired Admiral Kirk. "The tenets of your era?" Scorn was evident in the Admiral's tones and facial expression.
"That's exactly what I'm suggesting" she answered tersely. "We're stranded in a strange universe and we need to maintain things like the Prime Directive", and taking a breath, "where possible"
Archer looked at Janeway taking the data pad she offered. "I agree with you, I'll familiarise myself with these straight away and will let you know when I am ready. What about my crew?"
"I was thinking of the Constitution Class Enterprise," to which Kirk threw her a dirty look.
Three hours later all the Captains were in one of the main Cargo bays, the only place large enough to take them. Many questions were asked but with no new answers the discussion went onto how they must move forward. Numerous debates and even outright arguments took place. Janeway knew they had to vent their frustrations otherwise the problems would only resurface later. The room went silent for a minute, "If I may have your attention" she shouted. "Until we find a way home I suggest we look at the obvious" she said. "We have a Class M planet nearby that we can use as a temporary home where we can build homes and mine any ores we need," her oration was however interrupted by a flash of light and a familiar presence. Q stood there. "Well its good of you all to come"
"Q!" shouted Picard, "This no time for jokes!"
Straightening his posture, "For once you're absolutely right" he answered. "Right and before anyone butts in" he shouted, raising his voice to preternatural levels. "The universe as you know it is gone" said Q matter-of-factly. "The Continuum all thought Picard had saved the universe at Gorsach, I guess we were wrong"
Picard who was angrier than a cargo bay full of Klingon Targs, "Don't blame me!" he raged.
Q raised his voice even higher. "I don't blame you!" he answered. "I blame me," the comment which caused silence to descend over the whole room. "You see we thought 'They' were testing worthy species that came to their door, but I now suspect they were testing the Continuum in some unfathomable way"
"You're not serious Q" boomed Janeway. He sagged with all the stress and conjured himself an armchair to sit in.
"Actually Kathy I am, with the exception of Me" he said capitalising himself. "My Mate and Junior, we're all that's left of the Continuum. So we tried to save as many as we could, across multiple time periods"
"I am not playing a part of this pantomime" Janeway answered, but was interrupted by Picard.
"Admiral, wait" he urged. "I think Q is serious about this." Janeway threw Picard a very stern, 'we'll talk about it later' look, which he completely ignored, concentrating his attention on the Super Being. The omnipotent nodded. "We saw your universe consumed in entropy and left the confines of what we call home" he said sadly, "We went further than any Q has ever been," he said. "Luckily we found this universe before either of the three of us died, and seeing it was suitable, dropped you off somewhere safe." Picard knelt down besides the saddened Q. "No words of wisdom for me Picard, no pretty speech". Jean-Luc shook his head and placed a hand on Q's shoulder, partly in friendship and partly to console. Q sat there with his head in his hands, body shaking slightly as he cried softly. "I am truly sorry for your loss Q"
The meeting stopped while Q had centre stage. "They're gone" he said softly. "All of them." People stood still, holding their breath anxious what would happen next. After a minute, many booted feet began shuffle expectantly, wanting to do something, to speak yet none dared interrupt. Lifting up his head, "I am sorry" uttered Q, "I accidentally caught some of you in two time periods and so did my best by placing the memories in the younger body. I hope you don't mind" he said by way of apology.
It was Riker who mentioned the fateful statement. "At least the Borg aren't here" he muttered.
"Aaah" said Q, "There's something you need to know"
About a thousand light years from ZHa'Dum one hundred Borg cubes appeared as though dropped by some unseen god-like hand which in a sense they were, one belonging to Q. A psychic scream was omitted from a dark vessel that had arachnid characteristics, organic armour darker than space itself. A cube moved to intercept, a green tractor beam lashed out and captured the vessel. The spider vessel responded with a purple cutting beam similar to the Borg's, except theirs went through the shields dissecting the cube. Twice more the purple beam cut across the cube almost severing it into two separate pieces.
The Shadow vessel moved off, as a dozen more cubes attempted to intercept. It seemed to ripple and phase into nothingness. The Borg cubes continued towards a nearby planet.
Ten minutes later and without warning half a dozen vessels appeared, although they looked similar to the ones that Sheridan had encountered, they were most definitely not the same. The vessels the First Ones had used in that conflict had been designed to be slightly ahead of the younger races, to provide a challenge. These Shadow vessels bore the accumulated knowledge built up over millions of years, and began to engage the Borg fleet, each ship shooting out dozens of circular objects which then separated into mines, impacting on Borg shields.
Each ship fired multiple barrages of their purple particle beams, able to function effectively at much longer ranges than the opposition weaponry. Half a dozen cubes were quickly destroyed. Many Borg vessels converged all their firepower on a single Shadow ship, as organic armour began to buckle under the strain. Green cutting beams lanced off portions of the legs.
As quickly as it began, it was over and they retreated, leaving one straggler behind. Multiple tractor beams held onto it, while it attempted to phase into Hyperspace. A cube transported several drones aboard the vessel to assimilate the occupant into the Collective. Usually this tactic would have worked except her body was already full of nanites, only those created by the Shadows were over a million years more advanced than the Borg. As soon as a drone injected the nanites, she immediately reconfigured and reprogrammed them and began taking control of the drones.
Appearing on a walkway in the Borg cube, quickly found an input port. She began by injecting billions of Shadow nanites into the system which quickly overpowered the less sophisticated Borg ones. Within ten minutes the cube was hers. An infected drone was sent onto each other cube repeating the process and the hundred cube force stopped dead in space. The old Borg Queen was replaced by another. The new Borg Queen had much to do and using a tractor beam pulled her old ship inside; to remanufacture the organic armour for each cube. Revenge was her plan, those who taken her life away and turned her into a monster. The Shadows would pay.
On the nearby planet, many of the Starfleet personnel build homes, or began to mine for any ore and other useful material they could find. Until Warp drive was possible, or some other means of superluminal travel, many lay and enjoyed the sun; some trying to frantically catch up on the lost years. Riker was ecstatic about his new command, the Prometheus was an amazing ship, although he felt twinge of guilt about leaving the Titan so early on after Captaincy. In many ways it felt like betrayal. A stable warp field still impossible, so any travel was stuck at sub-light speeds, and without fully functioning sensors the fleet was almost blind and deaf.
Kirk was aboard the Sovereign, a ship which was a bit on the large side, and he thought the Excelsior was large, once. At this minute he was intensely irritated. Not with Picard, not with being alive, certainly not that, but with not being able to explore, grounded. So to prevent boredom worked his way through logs, history, going without sleep for the last few days, relishing what his younger body was capable of, but he wanted action. A thought occurred to him, "Scotty" he shouted, the ship automatically transmitting the communication to the Chief Engineer. "Yes Admiral" was the answer.
"Can these engines go into imbalance?" he asked.
The Chief Engineer bristled somewhat. "Oh nae you doont" he moaned. His door chirped.
"Come" he answered and the half Vulcan walked in.
"Captain I have been monitoring your communication" he began, "Just in the interests of getting you up to speed with current events. I believe this may be dangerous; the project being abandoned as it caused substantial tissue damage"
"Yes I know", was the irritated reply. "But that was there. Here is here and laws seem to be different. It's got to worth a try" he suggested. "Better that than doing nothing"
"I believe myself and Scott could run some simulations". What he hated, yes hated, about the 24th Century was their tendency to run by committee, and that just wasn't him. "Okay" he answered. "Can you have the details ready within an hour?"
This caused the Vulcan to raise an eyebrow and the Engineer to curse. "It is possible" Spock answered withdrawing from the Ready Room.
Most forgot that once he had been a Science Officer, like Spock, being promoted to Captain. It was also why his logic was so flawless a majority of the time; and also why his five years mission had been so triumphant. Over the years, he'd gotten lazy, let Spock do all the calculations and the work, leaving him free to concentrate on Command. But with his old body back, despite how much of an oxymoron that was, revelled in its youth. Jolting awake, not even aware of sleeping, obviously his body needed the rest. Angrily he threw the data padd on the desk. Time to rouse Spock, and walked onto the Bridge.
"Admiral" said Spock by way of greeting as he walked onto the Bridge, having removed the old uniform in place for the modern variant, as much difference as that made. "Well gentlemen"
"I believe your proposal has some merit Admiral" replied Spock. "I would like more time to test it" requested Spock. Normally he would have said there wasn't time, or some situation pressed on them. But this clearly wasn't the case. "I think we could try testing this until we're blue in the face, it's now or never." Kirk could see his friends' reticence at the proposed course of action. "Mr Scott" said Spock. "Are you ready?"
"Aye sir," the half Vulcan looked at him waiting the signal. He nodded.
"You may begin."
"Take us out 110 mark 034" said Admiral Kirk. "One half impulse"
The Sovereign began to move off, "Take us up to point 90 of light speed, increase gradually towards light speed" Kirk urged.
"Point 91, Point 92, 93, 94" said the officer at the helm station, Kirk had not bothered to learn his name yet. The great vessel beginning to shake, not that a Sovereign couldn't take the rigors of Transwarp; they had been specially designed to take high stress levels, but this was something else.
"Point 98, 99, light speed!" he shouted as it created a kind of stable wormhole, a conduit down which it could travel at superluminal velocities.
"I'd say that's a successful test" he announced after twenty seconds. "Throttle back" ordered the Admiral. Slowly the great ship came to a halt, entering normal space.
"Give us a position. How far have we travelled?"
"Telemetry coming in now Admiral" said Spock examining the data. "It would seem we have not only found a way to attain faster than light yet again, but the initial data would also explain why we are having trouble with accessing subspace. Congratulations yet again Admiral". Kirk felt pleased, no better than pleased. So much for 24th Century he thought. Sometimes the old ways are best. "Helm, take us back the way we came, retroactive course" ordered Kirk. "Best get this information back before I get into more trouble" he said rhetorically, and rubbed his chin thoughtfully.
Janeway had gathered some of the best engineers together, although they weren't in the same room they were brainstorming over the communication channel; trying to find ways around the subspace problem, and or other ways of faster than light travel. They were busy simulating Warp drives both normal and experimental, Quantum Slipstream, Coaxial Warp, and Transwarp.
Jean-Luc had left Geordie to it. His badge beeped, "Captain to the bridge" requested Data.
"What is it?" Sitting in what was once Wills' chair, having taken over as First Officer.
"Sir it would seem that the USS Sovereign has left." Picard was annoyed, Why would you so blatantly disregard orders he thought, But then that was Kirk's MO, never been one to follow orders. He knew Janeway would be furious and within thirty seconds the turbolift spewed him out on the Bridge. Data saw his approach even while currently bent over a terminal. "Sir it would seem that not only has the Sovereign left at full impulse but has also found a way to reach superluminal velocities"
"How Data?" he asked in gentle tones wondering what James T. Kirk had accomplished what no one else had done. Change the odds had been another part of his MO.
"Unknown at this time sir; without subspace even our sensors are limited in effectiveness". Picard berated himself for not thinking, but Data was right.
Data spoke again. "Sir, the Sovereign is returning".
Jean-Luc looked at Data, "Open a channel" he said calmly. Admiral Janeway was sitting at a table, with Jonathan Archer standing behind her. Admiral Kirk stood there looking at them, and he could tell she wasn't just slightly annoyed.
"What the hell did you think you were doing?" she shouted. "Taking a ship like that and doing something so risky!" Her voice was getting shriller. "Without even running proper simulations!" she continued.
"It worked didn't it" replied Kirk. Some people you were always going to clash with, and unfortunately Janeway was too authoritarian, preventing him from doing what he did best.
"But at what cost?" She slammed her hand on the table. "Unacceptable Admiral"
"Really" challenged Kirk. "Without the data we gathered it would have probably taken you months to even work out why we couldn't use subspace"
"You don't know that" she replied tersely.
It was Archer who spoke next, his voice seemed to carry over Janeway's. "I don't agree".
Head swivelling, "You have got to be joking," her voice incredulous, mouth hanging open briefly in shock.
Archer walked so that he could be seen by both. "You're so caught up in your 24th Century idealistic way of doing things you've lost sight of the objective," he said waiting for the comments to sink in. "To find out why we cannot use subspace." Archer picked up a data padd, "Now according to the reports we are a lot closer to finding that out. In about two days we should have fully functioning sensors and maybe transporters. Yes?"
"So I'm told" answered Janeway sheepishly, not happy about Archer disagreeing with her sentiment. "The main thing is we can send ships out now, safely, and hopefully in a couple of days we'll repeat the test and Admiral Kirk" said Archer. "I order you to stay put until then. Once we have the all clear you'll be the first to repeat the test"
G'kar sat aboard the ship, watching Lyta Alexander sleep, albeit fitfully. She was having nightmares again, but he would wait and maybe in time she would talk about it. For right now, they had time, and plenty of that. He had run away from the impending godhood the Narns had visited upon him, and she from her newfound and rapidly increasing powers. She'd been angry for weeks after Sheridan had threatened to 'blow her head off', but all that was long past. In time she would accept it.
Admiral, or was it Captain Kirk now, slid out of bed, into the new uniforms. Uniformly uncomfortable he thought to himself. A few back years retirement had seemed a good idea, but he had his youth back, and the urge to explore was upon him. He walked into a turbolift, which went swiftly to the bridge, luckily with no deviations. He had no mood for trivialities for with other officers today. Briskly he walked onto the bridge. "Spock, any news from Admiral Janeway"
"None Admiral", and raised an eyebrow in thought. Obviously aware of what Kirk was thinking. Sometimes he thought it might be all those mind melds, or maybe his Vulcan friend had learnt to anticipate his actions, thoughts. Sighing to no one in particular, sat down in the centre seat, Captain's chair. He missed Sulu's presence on the bridge. "Helm, lay in a course, 015, mark 080, ahead full and prepare to engage Transwarp"
"Captain, Admiral. I urge you to reconsider. Admiral Janeway will be most angry"
A wry smile and a sparkle lit his eyes. "What are they going to do, demote me – again"
"Admiral, Jim this is foolish"
"Spock without subspace we're virtually tripping over each other, it's a miracle we've not had a collision already"
Spock looked at his best friend, and knew to some extent Jim Kirk was right. They were just sitting here, running tests, yet without any real progress, which he suspected Janeway was using as a lever to keep them here. Unfortunately reading about the exploits of their Enterprise and its crew was not the same as knowing them. Without raising his head, "Helm, do as Admiral Kirk says, lay in course. Engineering, Captain Scott prepare to engage Transwarp on the Admiral's orders".
"Aye sir", no one heard his other comment when the communication ended, but it was an expletive.
Head of Starfleet, Jonathon Archer sat reading, and re-reading some of the exploits of various starship Captains, homing in automatically on the Enterprise which had quite a reputation over the years – being the Flagship of the Federation. His name came up again, and again, more than any others in fact. Kirk, the man had saved the Federation more than almost all the other Captain's combined; but he did have a predilection for disobeying orders. Always justified, yet Janeway seemed to have a personal grudge against him.
The only other Captain who came close to overshadowing Kirk was Picard, none came remotely close; not even Janeway herself. Personally he thought she was intimidated by such a living legend. This thought was testament to how well he didn't understand Kathryn at all. She actually disliked Kirk for one reason, and one only, his frequent disregard of orders sowed disorder into her otherwise orderly life.
In fact he was not the least bit surprised when a furious Vice Admiral Janeway, stomped into the office. "He's done it this time! I'll demote him to Commander. That's if he's lucky", she shouted pacing around like a caged animal. Not even bothering to ask for the topic of her wrath, it was plainly evident.
"Maybe Ensign would be better". He ignored her raging, and continued to read, knowing it would irk her all the more. "Are you not even going to ask what the problem is?"
"Not really", continuing to read uninterrupted. Truth be told Archer was gripped in a fascinating log entry of when the Kirk and a few others had emerged into the Mirror Universe, and swapped with their duplicates. It was amazingly easy it was for them to slip into the lives of their doppelgangers, but the reverse was not true – behaving like rabid animals the Mirror Universe crewmembers were easily rumbled. In the background Kathryn still continued to pace, angrier than a bay full of Klingons who had drunk a bellyful of Blood Wine and suffered with chronic hangovers. Patience was a virtue, at least that was the theory, and he was rapidly about to losing his. He'd heard her order Captain Picard to follow Kirk.
As deadpan as he could, and without smiling, and that was the hard. "I ordered Admiral Kirk to leave". She stopped dead in her tracks, like a gazelle being watched by a lion, hoping the predator would move on. "You…what" she stammered. "You ordered him", she stared right into his eyes, "Why didn't you tell me?"
"What and ruin your chance to vent all your angers at Admiral Kirk. Why intervene when I doubt you would have listened to anything I was saying". Her face went from red, to something else, he was not sure what; and he suspected an explosion was imminent. "You could have said something"
"I am saying something now" the current Head of Starfleet deadpanned some more, the thing about comedy was timing. "Two ships less is easier for everyone, I'm amazed no starships have collided"
Janeway sloped out his office without even being dismissed and for that he glad. Soon as the doors were shut he burst into fits of laughter, a tear even rolled down his cheek. After a minute of so, he calmed, somewhat angry at Kirk for not waiting a few moments longer. But he was an explorer not used to being tied down, and of having a somewhat longer lease than Janeway was going to give.
In a few hours he would talk to Janeway, and when Admiral Kirk returned, a chat was long overdue there too. He'd cover for the legendary Captain this once, but a conversation was called for.
In Transwarp Kirk was getting a splitting headache. "Spock" he shouted for tenth time, trying to heard above the din of absolute quiet. Which in itself was completely contradictory, but it somehow swallowed, or at least distorted all sound, rendering it noiseless. He reached across to panel on his chair, ordering the engines to be reversed. It took too long for them to respond, but they did. Suddenly they were back in normal space. Rubbing his temples watched Spock who was completely immersed in his readings. "Spock"
"Yes Jim"
"Next time can you do something about all that distortion, I've got headache"
Eyes moving toward his readouts, "Fascinating but quite impossible, that was one of the reasons the Transwarp project was shelved. In fact true Transwarp travel is decades ahead of 24th Century".
Groaning in displeasure, "What about normal warp drive?"
Spock tapped a few keypads, and nodded. "That might at least be possible. But I will need Captain Scott's help"
"You've got it". Getting up, Spock went into the turbolift and disappeared as the doors closed, on his way to engineering.
"Checkov where are we?"
With usual efficientness, he tapped the helm controls waiting for a response from the computer, "According to the computer we are just passing orbit of Epsilon III"
Walking over to his station looked at the readouts. Checkov looked over his right shoulder, "We're getting a remarkable amount background tachyon background emission. I think they're using it to communicate", awe in the officers voice.
"Can we match it and communicate with them?"
"Subspace we can't do, tachyons would have to be a yes"
On board Babylon 5, Ivanova looked at her readouts. "Is anybody else getting this? That ship is huge", and then tapped the communicator on her hand. "Captain to C&C, immediately we have an unknown ship"
"Acknowledged"